Many people are asking the questions about is the IQ any better on the new Canon sx40 HS. I just got the new sx40 and still have my sx30. I wanted to know for myself so I started doing some test. Every test shot I did made me feel like the sx30 was broke. These were all hand held and the image from the sx40 was much better each time. I noticed that even the IS seemed way better in the sx40. The image was far easier to keep steady in the sx40 and I was thinking this might be part of the IQ difference I was seeing. After shooting more than one hundred images to compare, I decided to take the IS out of the picture to be sure. I set both to full manual settings, turned off IS and mounted each on the tripod in turn. All settings were the exact same. There is no question that the sx40 smokes the sx30 in every way when it comes to IS and IQ !

While it's not leaps above, even the EVF is better in the sx40! It's not as good as the sx20 but it is a little better than the sx30. Shooting video at night on the sx40 also smokes the sx30. The video is very clean and smooth. I can now get very usable night time video from the sx40!

Out of the more than one hundred test images I shot hand held the difference is even more than you can see in the lab test shots! Many may fear that the resolution of the 12meg sensor is a step backwards. Well, it's not! The new 12meg sensor yields more true resolution that the sx30 14meg sensor in every situation! After all the test I have done the sx40 is an easy 2+ steps better than the sx30 in resolution and in noise. It also has a much cleaner, deeper color and rich looking image! All shots below are crops at 100%, with no post processing.

Another thing I noticed is that all that purple fringing of the sx30 is all but gone on the sx40. I don't believe this is due to the sensor but more likely an element change in the new sx40. Changing just one element to an ED glass could make this difference. It could be done by software but with the speed increase to about eight times faster shooting, it is more likely that an element change has made the difference.

All images are straight out of each camera and again all settings were the same. The Canon sx40 HS is indeed the new kind in the super zoom cameras! Don't miss this one. I have never taken the time to post any results but was so happy with what I found, I felt I needed to share the findings with who ever wanted to read and look. Hope this info helps some in there quest for answers about the new Canon sx40 HS. You look at the samples and you be the judge.